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Article In: Journal of Language and Politics: Online-First Articles

Normalization of ecological civilization in Chinese news media

A dynamic topic modeling-assisted critical discourse analysis

 | South China University of Technology
ORCiD logo with link | South China University of Technology
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Abstract
The concept of ecological civilization (EC) has been proposed by China as a paradigm to reconcile economic growth with environmental protection. The paper investigates the discursive shifts of EC in Chinese news media from October 2007 to September 2024 through dynamic topic modeling (DTM) and corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis. Quantitative analysis identifies 16 themes undergoing recontextualization over time, manifested as transformations in the form of addition, deletion, splitting, merging, and continuation. Different concepts and discursive strategies are employed to normalize EC. This paper further elucidates the contextual and ideological dynamics underpinning the shifts. The normalization of EC is driven by China’s development models and international pressure regarding environmental pollution, and reinforced through discursive construction of the antagonism between industrial civilization and EC, as well as sociotechnical imaginaries fostering collective identification. This paper contributes to the literature by showcasing the utility of DTM in tracing discursive shifts of a new idea.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Data and methods
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Main themes and theme intensity
    • 4.2Recontextualization of the themes
    • 4.3Analysis of the representative words as realization of the key concepts in EC
      • 4.3.1Analysis of 绿水青山 (lucid waters and lush mountains)
      • 4.3.2Analysis of 创新 (innovation)
      • 4.3.3Analysis of 治理 (control / governance)
      • 4.3.4Analysis of 人类 (mankind)
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Declaration of Generative AI in Writing
  • Notes
  • References
References (50)
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